HRC caves on DADT appeal

“It is certainly disappointing and frustrating that the administration has sought a stay,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign. “There is one simple way to put the endless legal wrangling behind us and do what the president and the American people want to strengthen our military: The administration and Congress need to finish the legislative work on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal after the election.”

No, the simple way to end DADT is for the President to stop appealing our court victories, stop defending DADT if he does appeal, and stop the discharges immediately using his stop-loss powers.

HRC claimed it wanted the President not to appeal, and now, even though he hasn’t officially appealed yet (he’s just indicated he will), and there’s still time for HRC to mount the same kind of effort it recently mounted against the Mormons, HRC says “oh well” and goes home. Why can’t HRC get 100,000 petitions, urging the President not to appeal, and drop them off at the White House, just like they did in Salt Lake City? Or would that jeopardize next year’s dinner speaker?

Remember, HRC promised us that DADT would be repealed this year. Tick tock. We’re all very curious what that $37m a year is buying us. We know what it’s buying the Democratic Party – political cover – but what about us?

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in Washington, DC. John's article archive.